Footballer has to wait two hours for ambulance after breaking his leg in Selsey

Storrington player Greg Clark in agony after suffering a double leg break playing against Selsey. Pic Steve Robards SR1637633 SUS-170201-153111001

Published:17:16Tuesday 03 January 2017

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The ambulance service has apologised after a footballer who broke his leg playing in a match in Selsey had to wait in agony for nearly two hours for an ambulance.

The accident happened in a match between Selsey and Storrington on Monday, January 2, when Storrington striker Greg Clark suffered an horrific double leg break in a collision with Selsey goalkeeper Jordan Smith.

The player was treated by club staff but had to wait nearly two hours in the cold for paramedics to arrive. Picture by Steve Robards

Members of staff from both clubs tended to the stricken footballer as they waited for an ambulance to arrive.

Selsey FC chairman David Lee said: “Unfortunately yesterday stretched everybody’s patience as it took nearly two hours for an ambulance to arrive at the ground.

“This was the first bit of professional medical assistance that the player received after the incident.

“This caused me concern, as the player, whilst being kept warm and comforted, should not have been allowed to lie around for this amount of time without some attention.

“I am very surprised that the Ambulance service was not able to attend sooner or have some sort of contingency plan in place.

“I appreciate that there were most probably far more serious incidents to deal with, but, something should have been in place to cover these eventualities.”

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) said sorry and blamed high demand over the bank holiday weekend for the delay.

A SECAmb spokesperson said: “We always take any concerns raised seriously and would happily speak to those involved in the incident if they would like to contact us directly.

“The demand we faced over the New Year bank holiday weekend was very high and we are sorry that this patient waited longer than we would expect.

“We have a duty to prioritise life-threatening calls and we are sorry that because of this, and because of the overall call volume, we were not able to respond in a more timely manner to this incident.”

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